I Shouldn’t Love Him (Book 2) – Chapter 59
LAKE
I didn’t move away from the window until the front door slammed and Tiffany came up the stairs.
I couldn’t be sure what I had seen. If Manning had kissed her earlier on the lawn, it would have seemed innocent enough, a kiss on the lips. What did that mean? There was no connection between them. I knew that, but Tiffany?
, hoping Tiffany would invite me into her room. When she didn’t, I knocked.
”
nt?”
f her transparent button phone in her hand.
.”
I look?”
d?”
inds of questions he asked me? Music, books, fancy tableware? I couldn’t imagine them talking about these things. When I had Manning’s attention, there was no room for anyone else.
e tone started beeping. With a sigh, Tiffany hung up the phone and leaned back on
t. We almost went back to his house, but he has to work early.
Tiffany went there, she would see all this before me. I went a little deeper into room.
ng to see him again?”
her Nirvana poster.
r, but maybe it was the other way around. “Really?” I asked
.
e an old man.” He works and has classes and goes to bed early and takes things
g her head towards me. “I thought college guys would be different, you know
ing cool.
anymore. She sat down and stared at her hair in the reflection of her mirrored cabinet
t it would be like if Manning called me first.
“Who?”
“Hello Co
ee him at the beach?
ning?
m.
?”
him.”
“On the pho
ed.
e about to have dinner.
e ask me?”
“Love him “You?”
“No.”
seemed different too, like he was listening when I spoke instead of trying to see under my top. “I mean, I love him fine,” I said. “But just as a friend. You?”
at’s basically why I could never date someone like Corbin.
had a little crush on you a while ago.
f it was more? I just think it’s weird that he’s suddenly interested in you.
loved a guy who loved me in return.”
as watching over me. “Okay. I won’t. And thanks for saying the pie wasn’t soggy earlier.
iece and you know how I am about calories.
is calories was a compliment. I had the sudden urge to kiss my sister. It had been a weird night. Some bad things had happened, like the fight and the possible kiss, but it could never really be bad because time spent with Manning was time to learn how to know. It was tr
ring him back. At least until school started. After that
door made us both jump.
, Tiffany gave him a sharp knock, as
and pointed to the bathr
Normally I wouldn’t ask her questions, but Tiffany had taken some of the heat tonight that should have been aimed at me. And I felt defen
st instinct was to apologize, but I didn’t. I stayed where I was, shoulders squared.
tonight?” Dad asked.
few seconds. “What do you mean?”
ou forced your mother and sister to go through the charade of cooking dinner and buying expensive wine. For what? What are you trying to prove?”
ing-“
construction worker who jumps from job to job. Once he’s done with this house, “He doesn’t have to show up for work the next
t respectful tonight. He had even made an effort to look good.
You were so rude to him.
ing about this guy. You just want to have fun. When are you going to grow up? Do your friends get away with this kind of behavior?” “You’re ex
.
ain.”
I’m an adult.
So start acting like one. Get a job. Or not, but if you want to continue living under this roo
live here anymore.””No?
e what I want,” she sa
ely pushing his buttons, making him say things to hurt her.
ike the choices I make, then fire me. I’m not going to stop dating someone just because you tell me to.
“I
aughter on the street?
door. “I’ll be gone in the morning.” After a few seconds of silence, Dad’s footsteps pounded the floor and a door snapped. My breath caught in my throat. Maybe Tiffany and I had our differences, but oh my God, I didn’t want her to be homeless, I didn’t even know where she would go. Tiffany and I We grew up in this house, a separate bathroom. I stood there so long, listening to the silence, not breathing, I started seeing stars. I walked into her room. “Tiff?
”
at her door. “What?”
ou OK?”
st?”
. Maybe I was the only one who knew besides my mother. I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to be on the receiving end of those things Dad had said to him. I crossed the room and she opened her arms as I launched myself into them. I was the one who started crying.
d. She laid us on the bed, stroking my hair. “They’re not worth crying over.”
“Who?”
“Men.”
d?”
Especially Dad.”
re what she meant by that. I had heard her cry enough times after their arguments. “You leave ?” I asked. “I don’t want you to leave. Please just go apologize to him.
not go.”
said.”
anning?”
t’s exactly what he wa
’s best for all of us.”
t there.
ey didn’t affect her. That she didn’t care. I knew she did, though. How could she not? He was her father. Even after all the fighting I had witnessed, I couldn’t believe she really thought that. “H
d. I will never have the kind of job he wants me to do. You will be. I’m not going to be a doctor or a lawyer or any of those boring things. He can’t stand that he worked so hard to give us opportunities just for
studied, and she had skipped a lot of classes, especially her last year. I didn’t know if I was smarter than my sister, but I definitely tried
just looked at her. Her eyes wandered until she finally said, “I thought not. . but maybe I do.
he couldn’t just change her mind back and forth like that. “For what?” I asked. “Ju
know. Maybe. It just made
and we both sat down. I thought she was going to kick me out, but instead she looked me straight in the eye. ” I guarantee you Manning has done worse than that to
ve me back my bracelet. He would eat anything I made. In my gut, I knew he was a good person. “I think it’s the other way around,” I said softly. “I’ve seen guys go crazy for you, and you ignore them.”
what he did? My heart thumped. I knew. I tried to pretend not, but I “I succeeded. I had seen it with my own eyes.
because then she would treat him like one. She would get what she wanted from him and move on.